Kukla's Korner Hockey

Life without Chris Pronger has left a void in the Philadelphia Flyers’ dressing room that extends far beyond his considerable on-ice presence. Pronger was such a big presence for the Flyers since arriving from the Anaheim Ducks that his absence is palpable – and evident the moment you walk into the room and can’t find his laughing, caustic personality. It really is a different place.

Sometimes, success in the NHL is about a team’s personnel and the talent level they can roll out onto the ice. Other times, success is a real-live chemistry experiment, and the ever-changing dynamic that exists in a 20-player group. Sometimes, a team can become more than the sum of its parts (see St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators, Phoenix Coyotes for details). Sometimes, it can become less.

You get the sense that the Flyers – Saturday’s visitors to the Air Canada Centre to play the Toronto Maple Leafs - are starting to sort it all out after an off-season of change that saw Mike Richards and Jeff Carter among others exit, and Jacob Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, Matt Read and others join the club. Early on, you wondered where the leadership would come from on a team that’s so young, so beat up and has made so many changes.